Elections

Obama's alleged doom was Reagan's gain

September 4, 2011 by Uppity Wisconsin

Little peopleSo the conventional wisdom is now that Barack Obama simply cannot win reelection in 2012 if the unemployment rate doesn't drop significantly by then. His handling of the economy is poohed by two thirds of polling respondents and right now fundy Christian nutcase Rick Perry is riding high in polls as the Republican challenger apparent and a nominee who would beat Obama in the general election.

Oh, really? Well, no one could say times are good, but a key fact seems to have escaped the attention of most pundits:

Ignoring the fact that he inherited an economy on life support, the unemployment rate under Obama has dropped from around 10 percent to 9 percent. At the end of Reagan's first term, when a far less damaging recession was still causing grief, the national unemployment rate was EIGHT PERCENT. Yet Reagan won handily with his "stay the course" campaign. And Obama, unlike Reagan, is likely to face a GOP that has devolved far to the right and is turning off independents in many polls.

Milwaukee Public Radio's odd preoccupation with conservative special interest groups

August 31, 2011 by Uppity Wisconsin

Tune in, tune outIn terms of its news and cultural programming, WUWM-FM in Milwaukee is, like most public radio stations, a reasonably good alternative to the shock-jock, wingnut talkmeister, carnival-realilty programming you get on most commercial TV and radio outlets these days. Milwaukee Public Radio, as the station is also known, is every bit a complement to Wisconsin Public Radio.

But MPR, like WPR, lately has had a bit of a problem with balance. To some extent that's because both entities are surely stressed by the attack of right-wing "kill public radio" types, and their call to de-fund such public outlets altogether. In WUWM's case, a little bit of this problem also may spring from the fact that station manager Dave Edwards is, by several accounts, a somewhat conservative guy, like too many other people in modern American radio broadcasting.

On Doing Better Than 50%, Or, Could More “Made In USA” Mean More Jobs?

August 15, 2011 by Uppity Wisconsin

We gotta grow some jobs, and that’s a fact, and we probably aren’t going to be able to do it with big ol’ jobs programs funded by the Federal Government, what with today’s politics and all, and that means if this Administration wants to stay in the jobs game they’re going to have to find some smaller and more creative ways to do it.

They are also going to have to come up with ideas that are pretty much “bulletproof”, meaning that they are so hard to object to that even Allen West and Louie Gohmert will not want to be on record saying “no no no!”; alternatively, solutions that work around the legislative process entirely could represent the other form of “bulletproof-ery”.

Well, I have one of those “maybe bulletproof” ideas for you today, and it has to do with how “Made in USA” the things are that our Government buys.

On Doing Better Than 50%, Or, Could More “Made In USA” Mean More Jobs?

August 15, 2011 by Uppity Wisconsin

We gotta grow some jobs, and that’s a fact, and we probably aren’t going to be able to do it with big ol’ jobs programs funded by the Federal Government, what with today’s politics and all, and that means if this Administration wants to stay in the jobs game they’re going to have to find some smaller and more creative ways to do it.

They are also going to have to come up with ideas that are pretty much “bulletproof”, meaning that they are so hard to object to that even Allen West and Louie Gohmert will not want to be on record saying “no no no!”; alternatively, solutions that work around the legislative process entirely could represent the other form of “bulletproof-ery”.

Well, I have one of those “maybe bulletproof” ideas for you today, and it has to do with how “Made in USA” the things are that our Government buys.